Across the past three years, retail sales of floral products in the United States have remained nearly unchanged at approximately $13 billion. In the past, fresh-cut flowers have dominated the floral product market, but trends are changing. The sales of dried flowers has drastically increased. This is for a good reason. With the rising cost of fresh cut flowers, consumers want more than a few days of visual enjoyment for their hard earned money. Similarly, retailers don't want to be caught with hoards of wilted flowers in their inventory. The present invention relates to a floral preservative, and more particularly, to a chemical spray that may be utilized in conjunction with fresh cut flowers to prolong and enhance their beauty, and also having the capability of preparing them for use as preserved, vibrantly colored, pliable dried flowers.
Fresh cut flowers begin to loose their freshness as soon as they are cut. Despite attempts to lengthen their lifetime, their leaves and petals wilt and discolor until they are no longer aesthetic affable enough to continue displaying. Considering the cost of certain floral species, this is an undesirable situation. The existing preservatives focus on the fact that cut flowers mainly absorb water from their cuts, and consequently try to prolong the flowers vase life by submersing the cut stem region in water containing a concentrated, powdered or tablet preservative. Unfortunately, these preservatives adjust the pH of the water and create an environmental waste to be dealt with.
Fresh cut flowers, rather than being displayed immediately, may be prepared for use as a preserved or “dried” flower. While dried flowers eliminate the abovementioned problem of wilting as well as molding, they have three inherent problems: they shrink about ten percent; they are fragile, often crumbling to the touch; and, they lack the intensity or vibrance of the flower's original color. This is a function of they way that they have been preserved.
Traditionally, dried flowers have been hung upside down in a dark, dry or desiccated environment to remove the flower's stored water. Often their water stores are replaced by soaking the cut stems with glycerin mixed with food dyes/coloring prior to drying.
Thus, it can be seen that the norm for enhancing dried or fresh cut floral arrangements has been an internal process wherein the flower draws fluid up the stem.
This new floral preservative utilizes a novel formulation that, when sprayed onto the flower as directed, approximately doubles the vase life of fresh cut flowers or preserves flowers to a pliable, non crumbly state approximating their natural vibrance therein overcoming the abovementioned drawbacks.